Best Buy shares fall 29% due to poor holiday sales

MINNEAPOLIS — Best Buy said Thursday it had disappointing sales during the holiday shopping season, raising concerns about the consumer electronic retailer's ability to turn around its business.

The Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — Best Buy said Thursday it had disappointing sales during the holiday shopping season, raising concerns about the consumer electronic retailer's ability to turn around its business.

Shares tumbled nearly 29 percent on the news, showing that investors are increasingly worried about Best Buy's future. Best Buy's stock price had more than quadrupled last year, but had been down 7 percent since the beginning of this year.

The holiday season, which runs from November through December, is a critical period for retailers because it can account for up to 40 percent of their annual revenue. Best Buy was struggling even before the holiday season because of increased competition from online stores and discounters like Wal-Mart. But under CEO Hubert Joly, Best Buy started a turnaround strategy that included revamping merchandise, training employees and cutting costs.

Best Buy went into the holiday season saying that it was unafraid of so-called "showrooming," when consumers check out items in stores and then purchase them for cheaper online. It also said it would match prices of all retailers, including cheaper online rivals, but that policy ultimately led to an unexpected sales decline.

Joly, also said that there was a lot of competition on price during the holidays and an "intensely promotional" environment. He added that Best Buy's business was also hurt by supply constraints for key products and a drop in customer traffic.

Additionally, Joly said there was an overall decline in the consumer electronics market that no one was expecting. Indeed, according to research firm NPD Group, consumer electronics sales fell 2.4 percent to $22.9 billion during the nine-week holiday period.

As a result, total revenue for the nine-week period that ended on Jan. 4 slipped 3 percent to $11.45 billion from $11.75 billion. Domestic revenue declined to $9.75 billion from $9.91 billion, while international revenue fell to $1.7 billion from $1.85 billion.